Thanks Peter. Let me bounce it off of J. She pretty much gave me carte blanche to purchase tools for projects today, so...

Adrian, I don't really have space for extremely large tools (my shed/shop is about 16x16 and is rapidly becoming full of tools, bikes, toys, etc...) so a dual bevel sliding 10 is about what I'm looking for.

Personally, even though my saw is equipped with a laser, I always bring the saw down to the line before I turn it on and cut it. Remember, the laser only works from one side, so to speak, as you have to compensate for the blade width if your setting up from the opposite side. The laser sounds like a good idea, but in reality I find it uneccessary.

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That Bosch is earning a great reputation and it certainly takes less space than other-brand equivalent sliders.

As always, you have to look at what your needs are. I got that big Makita because it allows me to crosscut very big pieces down to size, which I wouldn't feel I could do safely on my own on a table saw. But I'll admit that it was too heavy, awkward (and maybe even delicate?) to bring to and from my parents' house all the time so I bought the DeWalt for use on a stand.

The Makita has a laser and the DeWalt doesn't. Personally, I like the laser. Yes, it only aligns with one side of the blade, but that means 50% of the time it's used. It's not really necessary, but I use it.

There's never a substitute for a good blade. Cleaner cuts, less strain on the motor, and safer to boot. High tooth count is good, because it's not a combination blade...it's crosscuts only (obviously). The blade that came with the Makita was very good and meant I didn't have to buy another. I DID buy some "lesser" blades though for when I'm cutting PT 4X4s or PT 2X16s!

Nothing to add on the saw choices as it's all great advice above. I'll just also echo that having a couple of different blades is often overlooked but almost as equally important as having a good saw.

At a bare minimum you want two blades to work with. A 'quality' finish blade with 100 plus teeth and then also a faster crosscut blade. A high tooth blade is definitely better when doing finish work (cabinetry, small parts, etc.) but it cuts an awful lot slower & will slow you down if your just doing framing or rough cuts (building a deck, house etc.) Sometimes you will just want to slice and dice.

Contractors & savants, like Mark, will have two miter saws at a job site to save time. One with a cheaper (in case they hit nails on reclaimed lumber) but faster cutting crosscut blade and another saw with a higher quality, 120 tooth finish crosscut blade. This cuts down on blade swapping or getting lazy and not swapping to the better blade when needed. The saw with the low tooth number blade is (at least around here) referred to as the "chop Saw".

A personal pet peeve.An inexperienced store dude might suggest a good "combo blade" as a more simple solution but but remember that a "combo" blade normally refers to a table saw blade that it is designed for both cross cuts and for ripping. Since you physically can't rip in a miter saw, the 'combo' part is kind of wasted. Hopefully they are just borrowing the term to refer to a middle of the road crosscut saw that is decently fast but still doesn't chip too much.

Another note:Table saw blades can be freely swapped into a miter saw and vise versa (assuming they are the same basic size 10", 12") but once again, the right blade type for the job is what counts the most.

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